The melody of excitement echoes throughout with the launch of Wuthering Waves and here we have prepared a tier list ranking each character in terms of performance at launch.
In this tier list, we will go through each of the launch characters in Wuthering Waves and rank them based on their potential and the value they give you in the long run.
The thing to take note of is that in Wuthering Waves, while character kits do matter, the game also heavily emphasizes the understanding of combat mechanics. Certain characters may seem weak if you don’t understand how to make full use of their abilities, but can feel very strong on the right hands.
Do take note that this Wuthering Waves tier list is based on early impressions of the game as well as information from the closed beta test. As such, certain characters’ placement and performance may differ in the future when more calculations are done or more content drops.
The criteria for each ranking are as follows:
Rating(s):
- S Tier – These characters are some of the best in the game, and generally excel at fulfilling their role in most scenarios and are highly recommended to build.
- A Tier – Excellent batch of characters, only falling slightly behind the S-tier units, and can play well in most content.
- B Tier – Still worth the investment and can be pretty solid in certain teams or circumstances.
- C Tier – Situational. May not be worth the investment due to limited usage.
- D Tier – Very situational. Not recommended unless under a specific scenario.
Without further ado, here is the tier list and the justifications for why characters are ranked in their placements.
S | |
Jiyan | Embrace the dragon! Jiyan is easily the strongest DPS at launch, with so many of his skills focused on boosting and unleashing damage. Just straight up a pure and ridiculously powerful Aero damage dealer. |
Yinlin |
Step on me… erm, sorry, back to the tier list. Why is Yinlin S-Tier? She is a DPS that can deal damage while off-field via her marks, while greatly boosting her allies' Electro damage. Won’t be a surprise if Yinlin becomes a staple sub-DPS support in Electro teams for years to come. Basically, Yinlin is just stupidly good at dealing damage that she is an instant recommendation for pulls if her design hasn’t convinced you yet. |
Verina | I know, you Genshin Impact refugees are shivering in fear right now seeing a standard 5-star healer. Fret not, because Verina is just a universally good support not only in terms of heals, but team-wide buff. Just go for her… just do it. |
A | |
Calcharo | Very solid DPS, beautiful beautiful damage output for his ultimate. If you have Yinlin, he’s going S Tier easily. Otherwise, it can be difficult to make full use of his kit. |
Encore | Don’t let her cheerful and childish appearance fool you. Encore is a monster. Very much like Calcharo, super solid DPS, especially with her ultimate. |
Danjin | Do you like seeing big numbers? Are you comfortable in doing any% no hit run? Simply put, Danjin is your “berserker” type character where the lower her HP is, the crazier her numbers are. If you have the skills, she is amazing. If you have skill issues, she is going to feel awful to play. So… git gud and have Danjin roll over her enemies. |
Mortefi | Let’s keep this simple… Mortefi is a stupidly powerful support for buffing Heavy Attack, so keep him, invest in him, and feed him your mortal possessions. This way, Mortefi is happy, your DPS is happy, and you are happy because you see big PP damage. |
B | |
Rover (Spectro) |
The main dude… or gal. Unlike other gacha games where MC is generally meh, the Rover is actually pretty darn good, with very quick damage rotation and superb energy generation |
Aalto | Decent character for repositioning. Very good Outro for buffing Aero DPS, making him a great support to pair with Jiyan. |
Baizhi | Waifu aside, Baizhi is currently B Tier because she is the only few accessible healer in the game, pretty good one at that. This is not to say her kit is bad outside of heals, as she does provide pretty decent buffs. Fingers crossed, let’s hope she didn’t get power crept because she top waifu. |
Sanhua | Queen! Sanhua has great potential because her damage is already very good. Unfortunately, Glacio does not seem to be a very strong element at the moment, but hopefully, new support can bolster Sanhua to the top. |
Yangyang | She’s a free unit that everyone gets, but more importantly, she offers good grouping effects that can be valuable against certain encounters. So, don’t sleep on her. |
Yuanwu | Solid Electro DPS support. Place totem, get out, and everyone happy. Yuanwu is like that background character that never shows up, but somehow impacts the plot a lot. |
C | |
Jianxin | On paper, Jianxin should be amazing as she can provide both support and damage as a hybrid character. The problem with Jianxin is that her versatility is both her biggest strength as well as her weaknesses. She needs to stay on the field a lot, which clashes with her support kit. On top of that, she is very susceptible to staggers, making her difficult to utilize in gaining shields and energy, and WuWa bosses have no chill to let you take your sweet time. |
Lingyang | The whole gameplay of Lingyang relies on his lion dance gimmick, which puts him in awkward positions where the hitbox feels unreliable and difficult to pull off. When you figure things out, he can be decent though. |
Chixia | Bang bang bang! Well, the thing about Chixia is that she will likely not be easy to utilize because of how her Inherent Skill works. Basically, a lot of her damage comes to you committing to expanding all her bullets, which is very difficult to pull off, especially against fast enemies. |
D | |
Taoqi |
This is sad. Because of Taoqi’s archetype as a sort of tank, she struggles to find a place where she truly shines. It’s a game by Kuro Games, everything will kill you in one shot in the end game, so “tank” doesn’t exactly exist. She is not necessarily a bad character, just that the current game state does not require her. |
Hopefully, this tier list can help you plan ahead efficiently on which characters to spend resources on or who to target when pulling. However, as with any gacha game, we recommend you invest in a character you like rather than blindly following meta.
This is especially true for Wuthering Waves right now, where your gameplay skills matter more than meta, and “weak” characters can look strong when played by someone great at the game.
For more Wuthering Waves content such as the latest news and guides, you can find them here at GamerBraves.